CHAPTER V
DIAMOND VALLEY
Jack Lovat was warmly congratulated by the New Zealanders on their arrival at the Kopje Farm, and the ostrich farmer naturally felt proud of his son.
The return of Bessie was described by Jack, and Trooper Morton said he had no doubt whatever that the animal which had bolted when its Boer rider was shot by Trooper Morton and Mr. Lovat was none other than the gallant little mare.
As soon as daylight broke, the Colonials, headed by Mr. Lovat, Jack, and Pete, examined the country in front of the ostrich kraal to a distance of a thousand paces.
Three dead Boers and two horses were found stretched on the veldt, and Jack Lovat had no difficulty in identifying the body of Jan Van Donnop, one of the sons of the Dutch settler of that name.
Jan and his brothers, Piet and Stephanus, had mysteriously disappeared from the neighbourhood soon after the outbreak of hostilities, and their father had given it out that the lads had gone to reside at East London with a relative in order to learn the trade of milling.
Mr. Lovat made a more important discovery. Attached to the saddle of a dead horse was the cowhide bag which the previous morning had contained his five hundred sovereigns, but which, alas! was now empty.
The pockets of the dead Boers revealed no traces of the lost gold, and Morton remarked, "I'm afraid, Mr. Lovat, you have said good-bye to the coin. None of these men are leaders."
Mr. Lovat was examining the features of one of the dead men, and without heeding the Colonial's remark, he said, "This fellow is the man who commandeered Bessie."
With the aid of pickaxes and spades, a trench was made by the New Zealanders, and the stricken Boers and their horses were decently interred, Jack Lovat taking charge of several mementos belonging to Jan Van Donnop.